All in the family: DVD shows intimate portraits of families affected by mental illness and addiction

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Six families. Six stories. The newly released DVD from the Family Council lays bare the anguish and confusion of family members who have had their nearest and dearest affected by mental health and
addiction issues.

Premiering October 19 to an audience
which included some of the participants of the video, Family Council
Coordinator Susan
Allen hopes the video will, "increase
advocacy for families, expand the knowledge to clinical orientation and
be used as an
educational tool for staff."

The families profiled include:

The Southam familyPeter
and Elsa Southam didn’t know what to think when their newly-graduated
son Dave began to withdraw. He was highly irritable,
suffered from intense headaches and
couldn’t stand noise, even birds chirping. After numerous medical tests,
they tried psychiatry.

At the panel discussion held after the Family Council’s DVD showing, Peter Southam, father of Dave (left), talked about how
Dave’s illness changed the family dynamic and the lack of family support resources.

Dave was diagnosed with severe depression and the dynamics of his family changed. “I was without hope but my parents gave
it to me,” says Dave. “I wanted to get well soon because I knew how it was hurting my family.”

Elsa spoke of feeling diminished every time Dave was re-admitted. “It’s important when someone is in and out of hospitals
that you bring out the big guns every time to let them know you’re working to make them better.”

The Loranger familyFor Marc
Loranger bipolar disorder set in quickly. His father Peter recounted
lying awake at night thinking “this can’t be
happening.” But it was, and the
involvement of his family was crucial. One of the major challenges to
his recovery was the
enormous burden of stigma Marc felt within
his family and neighbours. “The stigma is worse than the illness,” he
says.

Marc
Loranger (left) recalls his struggle with bipolar disorder and the
stigma which surrounded him. Dexter Grandison (right)
struggled to understand the
depression his son experienced. Both Mark and Dexter relied heavily on
family support to pull
them through.

At
one point he was hospitalized after being awake for four days without
eating. Marc told a psychiatrist during an assessment
that he had been eating and sleeping
regularly. Peter was shocked since he knew it wasn't true. Peter
approached the doctor
later and told him none of what his son
said was true. Without his father present, the doctors would have acted
on incorrect
information. The importance of family
involvement is exemplified in this case.

The Grant familyIan Grant
couldn’t keep friends and couldn’t be less interested in anything.
Before his concurrent disorders diagnosis his
father Keith “had a hard time
understanding why someone so smart didn’t want to get into anything.”
His sister Jennifer Nash
was embarrassed by him. “He couldn’t make
friends, we were all he had. His loneliness is what kept him close to
us.” In the
end it was group sessions and his parents’
resolve to work together that helped him to recover.

The Glikus familyLeah
Glikus was left alone with three young children when her husband,
diagnosed with concurrent disorders, abandoned her.
At the time, she was lucky to have left
the house alive with her children because he became violent during a
psychotic episode.

As if that were not devastating enough, Leah and her children entered the system -- social services, family welfare and on
and on. “We had to keep repeating our story. Every time it felt like the wound was reopened.”

“There doesn’t seem much out there to support families. There’s a lot of work that goes into getting family members admitted
to the hospital.”

The Grandison familyDexter
Grandison knew something was wrong with his teenaged son when he stopped
playing basketball. “It was his passion,”
explains Dexter. His son became sad and he
was isolating himself from friends and family. Dexter’s small family
unit included
his aunt and his parents. His son's
mother, who suffered from clinical depression, was out of the picture.
“I started to see
the similarity in his actions to that of
his mother. Except when she told me what was happening, I didn’t
understand. As a
parent, you go into denial and it’s a hard
fight.”

The Li family“In Hong Kong
mental illness is not something you talk about. Other families try to
hide it but it takes energy away from
helping people and it negates the already
ill,” says Linda Li, whose son was in the throes of his first episodes
of psychosis.

Linda’s mother was deeply ashamed and
didn’t want to be part of Linda’s or her son’s life. Linda turned to
CAMH’s First Episode
Psychosis clinic. “This saved his life and
mine. I don’t have the strength to do it on my own. But the
professionals at LEARN (Learning Employment Advocacy Recreation Network), are a great support.”

For more information about the Family Council, please contact susan_allen@camh.net or 416 535-8501, ext. 6499.